Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin rose on Monday after prices of the light distillate fell in tandem with a drop in crude oil prices, analysts and traders said.

The crack rose by about $3 to $76.03 a metric ton over Brent crude oil. The backwardation between second-half August and second-half September naphtha prices stood at $10.75 a ton.

In tenders, Indian Oil sold 35,000 tons of naphtha to SK Energy for loading from Chennai port over July 29-30, market sources said.

Another Indian refiner, HMEL, sold pygas loading from Mundra port to Glencore for July 21-31 delivery, they added.

In gasoline markets, Asian demand is expected to remain healthy this month amid hopes of a rise in imports from Japan after several refiners suffered outages in recent weeks. The country imported about 94,000 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline in June, the highest since June last year, Kpler data showed.

NEWS

– Oil prices fell 1% on Monday as supply disruption worries eased on hopes of a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but the potential impact of Hurricane Beryl on supplies kept declines in check.

– A double whammy of record heat and hurricanes should test U.S. refiners’ resilience in coming weeks, raising the risk of extremely volatile fuel prices in the middle of the peak travel season, analysts said.

– The Texas energy industry braced for storm Beryl’s impact on Monday, with the intensifying weather system forcing closure of key oil and gas shipping ports, slowing refining and prompting the evacuation of some production sites.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan, Editing by David Goodman)